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Whitman Publishing: Bob McCabe’s Counterfeiting and Technology

December 1, 2016 – Whitman Publishing announces the upcoming release of “Counterfeiting and Technology: A History of the Long Struggle Between Paper-Money Counterfeiters and Security Printing”, by Bob McCabe. In 480 pages this narrative covers the origins and development of paper and printing; the formation of engraving companies in America, particularly in the melting pot of Philadelphia; the measures taken by the Secret Service and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing against counterfeiting; and the scoundrels who regularly advanced their careers through forgery and inadvertently encouraged new technology.

Since the “invention” of paper during China’s Tang dynasty, legitimate authorities and equally determined and imaginative rogues have fought in an attempt to improve (or copy) the technology and security of paper money. Historian McCabe captures their stories in vivid detail, from colonial times to the present day. Counterfeiters, mostly previously unknown or unrecognized for their dishonest cleverness, are finally brought to light, along with the stories of those who sought to capture them. McCabe follows the technology of American currency – from paper-making to fugitive inks to roller presses – from early colonial attempts to the modern era.

Larry Adams, Curator of Iowa’s Higgins Museum of National Bank Notes, wrote the foreword to “Counterfeiting and Technology”. “Bank notes have affected nearly every aspect of our lives and history, yet few people know anything about the art and science of this work, which, due to its nature, is shrouded in mystery,” Adams says. “McCabe has travelled to many of the largest cities in the eastern United States to ferret out original materials in libraries, museums, historical societies, and the National Archives to document this story, and from that material he has woven the fabric of a tale full of heroes and villains acting out their roles on the stage of American history.”

Whitman Senior Associate Editor Caitlyn Trautwein says, “Often the very men who attempted to counterfeit the currency of the time pushed innovators to greater refinements, always seeking designs and securities that fell in line with the highest form of the art. Comparisons between genuine and counterfeit bills and explanations as to what methods the counterfeiters used to do their work are recalled with such acumen that one could believe McCabe was actually there, interviewing the men himself.”

Page of Counterfeiting and Technology.

Counterfeiting and Technology presents the history of paper money in a way that’s never been seen before. It combines chemistry and artistry, inventions and escapades, tales of arrest and daring escapes. Collectors and historians of American money will love this engaging and informative narrative about our nation’s paper currency.

Because Whitman Publishing is the Official Supplier of the American Numismatic Association, ANA members receive a 10% discount off all direct purchases. The book can also be borrowed for free as a benefit of membership in the American Numismatic Association, through the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library.